Reagent for Saliva in Virus Antigen Test to Be Released Monday

June 19, 2020

Tokyo- Miraca Holdings Inc. said Friday that its Fujirebio Inc. unit will sell a reagent for coronavirus antigen tests with automatic testing equipment that can detect possible infection from saliva, starting Monday.

The product, approved by health minister Katsunobu Kato on Friday, will make it easier to detect possible infection than with conventional antigen tests using mucus collected from the back of the nose, and can reduce the infection risk of medical workers.

Antigen tests check whether patients have a specific type of protein unique to the virus.

The test using the newly approved reagent takes only about 30 minutes to produce results, significantly shorter than the four to six hours needed for polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests.

The fastest testing equipment can check 120 samples per hour.

In addition to saliva, mucus collected from the back of nose can be used for the test.

Of some 1,300 Lumipulse automatic testing machines of Fujirebio used in Japan, some 800 support the newly approved antigen, making it possible for more medical institutions to conduct tests. Jiji Press